How Effective is Macroalgae

[chrispyness]

Hi everyone,

I’m planning my first saltwater tank. I have a 60g cube I’ll be using as a display tank with a sump.

I’ve been keeping freshwater for about two years at this point. I’ve always kept planted tanks to help keep nitrates down and have had massive success letting nature do its thing with occasional water changes.

How much can I transfer this experience to saltwater with macroalgae? Freshwater plants like pothos, Java fern and many others do great at purifying the water. I know macroalgae will do this to an extent but I don’t know the effectiveness of it.

Is it best to keep it in a refugium or in the tank?

 

[saltwaterfish.com Verified Sponsor]

It depends on what you want your tank to look like. Having both experience with freshwater and saltwater I will say that macroalgae does have to be trimmed more often then freshwater plants. It does a great job in removing excess nitrates and phosphates in the tank, and while this does cut back on your need to do water changes, you do have to dose your tank for calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium as they will suck those up as well.
Keeping it in a refugium makes it a little bit more manageable but it also limits the growing area. If you wanted to put it in your display be wary of it growing over corals and covering them. If you wanted to do just a macroalgae tank I recommend something like Dragon's breath as it's very pretty to look at and easy to remove.